November 17, 2016

Baru, time to debate MA63 over — PRS supreme council members

The time for politicking and debating on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) has ended and is now for the state and federal governments to implement it, said PRS supreme council members.

Their spokesman, Liwan Lagang, said during the implementation phase, only two parties were involved: State Secretary and Chief Secretary to the Federal Government.

“Hence, there is no point for state PKR chief Baru Bian to continue attacking PRS president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing for asserting that there is no need for the opposition to be in the closed-door talk on devolution of powers,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.

He added that even the three deputy chief ministers were not invited to attend the discussions as it was purely administrative in nature.

“Why? To ensure political one-upmanship doesn’t come into the discussion.”

Besides Liwan, who was elected PRS vice-president recently, other PRS supreme council members present included vice-president and Samalaju assemblyman Majang Renggi; Murum assemblyman Kennedy Chukpai Ugon; political secretary to the Chief Minister, Edward Kurik; Janang Bungsu, and Jackson Melintang, who is special officer to the deputy prime minister.

“Beside defending our president, we would also like to state here that we are fully behind state BN chairman and Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem to continue to lead Sarawak to have fruitful discussions on the rights of Sarawak as enshrined under the MA63,” said Liwan.

The Assistant Minister of Transportation pointed out that what the state wanted had been spelt out, including more autonomy for the state for education, better representation for Sarawakians in the federal civil service, and greater participation of local contractors for projects in Sarawak, such as the RM16 billion Pan Borneo Highway.

“What the state wants is for the federal government to treat Sarawak as an equal partner in the federation, not as one of the 13 states.

“Once Sarawak is treated as an equal partner, naturally we will have more autonomy and allocation from the federal government to develop the state.”